CARS Tour opens 2019 season with 10k-to-win races for SLMs and LMSCs

The CARS Tour will begin its fifth season on Saturday night
with the Solid Rock Carriers 150 at Southern National Motorsports Park.

The event will feature the traditional CARS Tour
doubleheader format with 150 laps for the Super Late Model division and 150
laps for the Late Model Stock Cars — and both races pay $10,000-to-win and feature
a robust entry list.

It’s also a homecoming of sorts as this is the first time
Southern National has hosted the season-opener since the debut event back in
2015. It’s something that track operator Mike Diaz takes a certain amount of
pride in.

“I think Southern National should always be the track
that the tour opens with,” Diaz said. “The very first CARS Tour event
was held here and I hope for many years it will remain here. It has been an
overwhelming response from all the fans to see the CARS Tour back at SNMP for
their season opener. I have had calls from as far north as Maryland to as far
south as Georgia about fans coming for the weekend.

“The campground is going to be packed, just like the grandstands. The tack has worn out a little since the last time the tour has been here. In talking with several competitors over the past few weeks, that have been testing, they have all told me the same thing. Tire management is going to be a key factor with the upcoming event.

As for the on-track product, this season will be the first
time that both the Super Late Model (Jared Fryer) and Late Model Stock (Bobby
McCarty) champions have returned to defend their crowns in the same season.

However, on the Late Model Stock front, the field have to deal
with Deac McCaskill to reach Victory lane on Sunday. The 2016 champion has led
424 of the 550 laps ran in CARS Tour competition around the 4/10th mile track
and has won two of the four races.

“It’s been a few years since the tour has been to the
track, so I’m sure the place has changed a lot since then,” McCaskill said.
“The Tour I feel is so much more competitive than it was back in 2016, and
with knockout qualifying, plus 150 green flag laps, it should be one of the
best races there yet.”

This is also a homecoming event for Super Late Model driver Jeff Batten. The Nashville, North Carolina native calls Kenly his home track. And even though the Tour has not raced at this track since the 2016 season, Batten feels like this weekend’s race will look a lot different than it did almost three seasons ago.

“Honestly, I think it will look a lot different, a lot
of the drivers have changed since then, but I think the show will pretty much
have the same feel,” Batten said. “The track surface is starting to
lose some grip, it’s been sitting a lot since the last time there was a CARS
Tour race there. It’s going to be like any of these big Super Late Model races
now, patience.

“You have to keep the fenders on it, save your tires, and be ready to go with twenty-five laps to go.”

The event, along with all CARS Tour races, can be viewed online via a CARS Tour Dot TV subscription package for $24.99 a month. This package includes an archive of all previous CARS Tour races.

Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He is also the associate motorsports editor of Autoweek Magazine and its website, which allows him to cover the highest levels of the sport.